This vegetable soup will warm you in a wink on a cold fall day.
- 1 lb. Swiss chard
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 15 oz cannellini beans (rinsed and drained)
- 2 med. tomatoes (cored and coarsely chopped)
- 1 cup freshly chopped basil
- 6 Tbsp finely shredded Parmesan cheese
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 4 slices Italian bread
- olive oil
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Remove stems from chard. Chop stems and greens separately.
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In a 4-qt. pot, combine broth, 2 cups water, the chard stems, beans, tomatoes, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. black pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 15 minutes. Stir in chard greens. Cook, uncovered, another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
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Meanwhile, for pesto: in a small food processor, combine basil, 4 Tbsp. olive oil, 4 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese, the garlic, and 1/4 tsp. each of salt and black pepper. Process until smooth.
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Brush both sides of bread slices with olive oil. On a grill or grill pan, toast bread on both sides, sprinkling with remaining cheese after turning once.
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Ladle soup into bowls. Top each with pesto. Serve with bread.
Soups are amazing because you can eat them all year long. Broccoli cream, egg drop, or tortellini and sausage…they all warm you up in a jiffy! Phillip Wiglesworth had some fun experimenting during the cold snap this month and created an amazing Swiss chard soup. The beauty of this recipe, he says, is you can change things up each time you make it, so you have a new soup with a new flavor.
The Broth of your Swiss chard soup
Though the recipe itself calls for vegetable broth, you can easily substitute chicken or beef broth if you want a heartier flavor. Moreover, you can add a bit of cornstarch or milk to the broth to thicken it, if you don’t like thin broths. Phillip Wiglesworth recommends cornstarch when it comes to Swiss chard soup.
The “meat” of your soup
If you like to have lot of “stuff” in your soup, feel free to experiment. Add your favorite kinds of beans – black, pinto, Great Northern, or chili – to the soup along with the cannellini beans. You can also try adding some sweet Italian (or hot) sausage chunks, or make your own small meatballs.
Your pesto
This recipe calls for a simple basil pesto. You can make it yourself, as Phillip Wiglesworth did for his Swiss chard soup here, or you can purchase some at your local grocery store. Alternatively, you can try pesto made from pine nuts or walnuts, if you don’t have a nut allergy!
Do you have to use Swiss chard?
Even though this is a recipe for Swiss chard soup, Phillip Wiglesworth says you can easily sub out this green and replace it with another that you like better. Swiss chard has a bitter taste, similar to kale, so if you don’t like the taste, you can always try spinach, escarole, or a mixture of different greens instead.
